A 62-year-old Florida grandpa has been charged with child neglect and arrested after leaving his toddler granddaughter in an unshaded and hot rental car he was returning to the airport.
David Towner was on babysitting duty Monday when he drove to Daytona Beach International Airport at 5 p.m. to return his Hertz rental car.
Footage obtained by showed the moment Volusia Sheriff’s Deputies arrived at the airport after Steven Stivers, a Hertz employee, spotted the toddler about 45 minutes later with dried tears streaming down his face.
‘[The toddler] appeared to have dried tears on her face and her skin was noticeably flushed,” said in an affidavit.
‘Deputy Durney put his hands on [her] forehead and noticed that her skin felt hot, similar to a fever. [She] appeared to be breathing normally and no obvious signs of trauma were observed.’
Officers were able to contact the toddler’s mother after she called the police in desperation after going to her father’s home and realizing her daughter was missing.
The toddler was later reunited with her mother, and Towner was arrested for leaving his granddaughter in an unshaded car in 80-degree weather.
David Towner, 62, was arrested Monday after leaving his toddler granddaughter in a hot Florida rental car after returning him to the airport
Footage obtained by showed the moment Volusia Sheriff’s Deputies arrived at the airport to find a Hertz rental car clerk holding the toddler
Employee Steven Stivers found the girl in the back seat of a 2019 Chevrolet Equinox while moving returned vehicles, according to the affidavit
Dahronda Patterson, another Hertz employee, was seen in police bodycam footage holding the toddler when police arrived at the airport around 6 p.m.
The inaudible video of the toddler’s blurred face showed police approaching Patterson as emergency services rushed in to check the approximately two-year-old’s vitals.
Patterson told police that Stivers found the toddler in the back of a 2019 Chevrolet Equinox while transporting returned vehicles.
“He immediately notified Patterson, who removed her from the vehicle and took her to the main terminal,” the affidavit reads.
Police were told the car was originally rented from a William Ford in Pennsylvania, but were told by airport officials that Ford did not have a flight reservation.
Who Ford is is unclear.
“Then a call came from the child’s mother who had just learned that her father had left her daughter in the rental car – not at his home as he had told her,” the Volusia Sheriff’s Department wrote on Facebook.
The mother later told police that she arrived at the airport around 5:30 p.m. to pick up Towner after he had dropped off his rental car.
Towner told his daughter that the toddler was back at his house with his roommate. She then went to Towner’s house.
‘When [the mother] Arriving at the residence, she immediately noticed [her daughter] was not there,” says the affidavit on the arrest.
Towner and his daughter immediately searched the home for the toddler, but learned from the roommate that the 62-year-old had placed his granddaughter in the back seat of the vehicle before driving to the airport.
‘[She] stated that she called 911 and was informed of it [her daughter] may have been at the airport.”
Police said Towner was “remorseful and” cooperative in the investigation and his arrest.
Volusia sheriff deputies arrived shortly thereafter to find Dahronda Patterson holding the toddler (above) who had dried tears on her red face
The toddler was left in an unshaded car at the Florida airport in 80-degree weather
Investigators were told by the toddler’s mother that her father has a drinking problem. While Towner did not appear intoxicated, police determined that he smelled of alcohol.
Despite the allegations, Towner insisted he was sober that day and had no history of mental health issues.
Additional footage from the Hertz car sidings at the airport also showed Towner exiting his vehicle and not turning back.
While Towner was lucky his granddaughter was safe, according to Kids and Car Safety there have been 30 hot car deaths so far in 2022.
The last hot streak of hot car deaths was on September 20th in Texas, Florida and Alabama.
The ages of children unknowingly left in the back seat of vehicles ranged from 8 months to two years.